The ASTM Board of Directors last met April 23-25. The following
is a summary of the actions taken by the Board at those meetings.

Executive Committee Report

The Nominating Committee is charged with selecting the slate of
candidates for the 2002 ASTM directors and officers. The committee
is composed of the three past chairmen of the ASTM Board and six
other individuals. The following people have been named to the
2001 Nominating Committee:

Chairman Don Marlowe reported on his interactions with the executive
subcommittees of various ASTM technical committees regarding his
January letter informing them of a recent Board action. The action
requires that all committees inform ASTM when a U.S. Technical
Advisory Group plans to submit a published or draft ASTM standard
as a new work item to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). He explained that initiating this dialogue between the
Board and the technical committees would provide the Board with
the feedback necessary to properly service membership expectations
related to global standardization.

Committee on Publications Report

A pilot project of Committee E08 on Fatigue and Fracture has been launched, in which electronic
versions of individual technical papers are to be published on
the ASTM Web site once they are peer reviewed and edited. The
committee held its symposium in November 2000 and the first online
paper was published in March 2001.

COP also reported that there is now online capability to search
current and past issues of the ASTM journals.

The Board voted unanimously to approve changes to COPs bylaws,
which were recommended as housekeeping changes to bring the bylaws
inline with changes that have occurred since the last bylaws revision
in 1988. The changes are in regard to COP functioning in areas
of scope and responsibility, organization and meetings, and issues
of ownership of publications. For a copy of the changes, contact
Margie Lawlor, COP Secretary, ASTM (phone: 610/832-9616).

Corporate Communications Report

ASTM has contracted with the Gallup Organization for an extensive
survey to determine if ASTM is meeting the needs of its members
and customers. The survey will be completed later this year.

A new biannual newsletter for ASTMs customers, Access ASTM, has
been developed and the first will be distributed this summer to
over 100,000 non-member customers and all individuals who have
attended ASTM Technical and Professional Training courses.

ASTM Business Link, another new biannual publication, was launched
as an eight-page glossy insert in the May issue of SN. Business
Link provides information on topics connecting the technical and
business communities with articles that will appeal to members
and non-members alike.

Other Corporate Communications projects highlighted were: the
eighth annual issue of the Chinese-language issue of SN, which
is in production; the publication of the ASTM 2000 Annual Report; and a new brochure that serves as a guide to publishing in ASTMs
New Publication Series.

Report from ASTM Name Change Task Group

The Board of Directors voted unanimously to adopt the recommendation
of the Name Change Task Group to keep ASTMs formal name and begin
using ASTM International with an appropriate tag line. The Board
instructed staff to proceed with developing a tag line that describes
ASTM, and begin putting together a coordinated promotional campaign
to launch the name ASTM International, the new tag line, and
an updated design of the ASTM logo. The launch and promotional
activity will occur later this year.

Membership

The ASTM membership department has developed a resume and job
match service with a company called Brass Ring for ASTM members
and organizations via the ASTM Web site. This service, which launched
in May, is free to ASTM members and completely confidential.

A membership technology survey has been conducted by the Information
Technology department, designed to ascertain the technical savvy
and hardware available to the respondents. See the August issue
of SN for a feature article on the results of this survey.

A membership benefits brochure is available for free. Contact
Lisa Wellington (phone: 610/832-9691).

[Subcommittee membership shall be terminated for failure to return
subcommittee letter ballots. An ongoing review of the voting membership
shall be conducted and a warning letter of pending termination
sent to those voting members who have failed to return the last
two subcommittee letter ballots. Failure to return the next subcommittee
letter ballot shall result in termination of subcommittee membership
in the absence of circumstances acceptable to the subcommittee
chairman.] *Each committee shall provide in its bylaws detailed
criteria for termination of subcommittee membership based on failure
to return subcommittee letter ballots.*

Committee Scope ChangeThe Board unanimously approved a revision to the scope of Committee
F23 on Protective Clothing to clarify the fact that the committees
focus is to develop performance specifications.

New Activity DevelopmentStaff reported on the development of new standards development
activities. Planning meetings have been held to organize new main
committees on livestock evaluations and machine tool components
compatibility. In addition, an organizational meeting was held
to form a new activity addressing safety performance standards
for gunlocks.

The Digital PathStaff reported on the status of the Digital Path initiative,
the objective of which is to develop a totally electronic workflow
for standards from the first draft through publication. Key members
of the Committee on Standards (COS) and COTCO were asked to be
part of a focus group to critique the initial efforts of the staff
task group. The feedback from these members was very positive
and provided constructive suggestions on ways to improve the process.

Washington Representative Kitty Kono reported that an Algerian
delegation visited ASTM earlier this year as part of a Department
of Commerce Standards Study Tour of the United States. The groups
emphasis was on oil metrology. Twelve standards specialists toured
facilities to evaluate government and private-sector standards
in the United States. ASTM provided them with an overview of ASTM
petroleum standards, proficiency testing programs, and technical
training courses.

Kono has also launched a project with NIST to identify ASTM standards that are used as the basis of national
standards or are embedded in government regulations of countries
beyond the United States. To date the following countries have
supplied lists of such ASTM standards: Australia, Canada, China,
Colombia, Germany, Israel, Thailand, Taiwan, Malaysia, Vietnam,
Finland, and New Zealand. The standards used in these countries
come from a very broad cross section of ASTM technical committees.

William T. Cavanaugh Memorial Award

The Board voted unanimously to present the 2001 William T. Cavanaugh
Memorial Award to Dr. Patrick G. Laing of Pittsburgh, Pa. (member,
Committee F04 on Medical and Surgical Materials and Devices) and Dr. Steven
M. Spivak of Stantex Consultants, Falls Church, Va. (member, Committees
D13 on Textiles and E05 on Fire Standards). Biographical information
on the recipients can be found here.

Welcome to the following new members of the Board, whose terms
began this year: